Fox River Mall's photo policy with Santa angers parents

Dec. 7, 2011

Written by

Maureen Wallenfang

Post-Crescent staff writer

Santa's hours at the Fox River Mall

Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with breaks from 1 to 2 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a one-hour break between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.

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GRAND CHUTE — Is the Fox River Mall saying bah humbug to shutterbugs?

That's the question parents are asking after hearing the mall's Santa attraction now prohibits them from taking their own photos on set while their children visit Jolly Old St. Nick.

They've been anything but jolly about it.

"I don't think it's in the holiday spirit," said Appleton mom Kelly Krabbe, who was told to put away her camera when she took her 3-year-old son and 9-year-old niece to see Santa in the mall's Macy's wing. "It doesn't allow us to get those memories for our children."

Parents are instead offered photo packages for purchase.

John Burgland, the mall's senior general manager, said the rule was instituted nationally by the mall's parent company, General Growth Properties. Initially, he thought it wouldn't be enforced until next year.

This week, he found out differently when parents complained.

"We waited 20 to 30 minutes in line and they didn't tell us until we reached the point of taking pictures," said Krabbe, echoing complaints from a number of parents.

"They were very adamant that you couldn't take a personal picture. They showed us the different photo packages. I said I previously bought a package for $20 and they said, 'We're not offering that.' They tried to sell me a $49.99 package. I didn't buy it. I said, 'This is sad that you people have raised prices when the economy is like this.'"

As a compromise, Burgland said parents can take photos, just not while standing on the Santa set.

"The person does have to step out to the side, off the set, but they can still take the picture," he said.

At General Growth Properties' corporate offices in Chicago, spokesman David Keating did not say why the policy was put in place.

"We are only asking that if you'd like to use your own camera, that (you) move behind the stanchions," he said in an email. "Otherwise, the elves cannot maneuver the set to assist Santa and his guests. The Santa set also offers professional photos at great prices."

The photo policy shift has given parents mixed feeling about going at all.

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Dennis Myers, a Harrison resident, said the Fox River Mall's Santa is part of his family's Christmas tradition.

"Our oldest is 8, so we've been doing it for eight years. He's the Santa our kids know," he said. "This is the Santa my wife went to when she was a kid."

While Myers can afford the price, he doesn't want to be forced into buying a photo package. Photo packages start at $22.99.

"We started out buying the package the first couple of years, but we weren't happy with the photos. They weren't what we were looking for and they rush people through. You're stuck with whatever pictures you get from them," he said. "When our oldest was 3, we started doing our own photos. It wasn't a monetary thing. It was the quality of the pictures.

"I can understand that they're trying to operate this as a business. But it takes away a lot of the spirit of what visiting Santa was supposed to be. A lot of my friends have gone to other places. They can't afford that. They're struggling to get gifts."

The larger question is perhaps whether or not malls should try to recoup some of the cost of hiring a Santa, said to be between $10 and $40 an hour, according to the Wall Street Journal. Or should it be absorbed as a part of the cost of attracting shoppers to the mall's retail stores?

Appleton's Northland Mall has a Santa for limited hours — Friday evenings plus Saturday and Sunday afternoons — far fewer hours than the Fox River Mall's Santa, who is on duty every day from morning to mid-evening.

The Northland Mall gives parents the option of taking their own photos or buying photos from a photographer on site who keeps the money he takes in.

"We don't make any money off this. It's a service," said Northland Mall's property manager Jackie Verstegen. "In my 22 years, we have never told people they couldn't take pictures with their own camera."

Meanwhile, Krabbe, the Appleton mom, was looking at new options for her son's annual picture with Santa, including taking him to one of several credit unions that booked Santas this weekend.

Would she go back to the Fox River Mall's Santa in the future?

"Sadly, no," she said. "And that's one of the best Santas around. We're going to have to take the kids somewhere else. Likewise with the Easter Bunny."